Category: The Economist

“IN MY TWENTY years of life, I never thought my first flight would be to a Lanzhou police station.” So wrote one young woman who, in the past few weeks, says she was ordered to leave her home and report to authorities in the faraway capital of Gansu province, in the parched northwest. Her supposed crime was profiting from posting erotic stories on a website dedicated to danmei—online fiction that depicts romantic and sexual relationships between men, but which is largely written by (and for) straight women. The Economist

THE TEARS and toil were worth it. Some 4.8m pupils will soon learn that their scores in the recent gaokao exam have earned them spots on a bachelor’s degree course at university—unlike 8m of their fellow test-takers. How to make the most of their glittering futures? For many the answer is to study engineering. The Economist

For someone approaching his 90th birthday, the Dalai Lama is in remarkably good nick. On a mid-June morning, The Economist joined a group audience with Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader and watched him greet about 300 devotees and well-wishers individually. Dispensing advice and blessings for over an hour, he paused only once for a sip of hot water. He does this five times a week, plus occasional public teachings, in his adopted hometown of Dharamsala in northern India. The Economist

The smog in Beijing was once so thick that a local brewery began selling a bitter beer called the “Airpocalypse”, which was cheaper on polluted days. These days fewer people are chugging a discounted brew. Last year Beijing saw only two days of very severe smog, according to the government’s method of measuring—down from 58 in 2013. The prevalence of a particularly dangerous class of pollutants called PM2.5, which comprises specks of dust and ash small enough to enter the bloodstream through the lungs, has fallen by two-thirds over a…

THE DRONES fly thick and fast towards Kyiv these days. Almost 500 were fired in a recent Russian attack on Ukraine’s capital, in the early hours of June 10th. Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, fears that at current rates of production Russia may soon be able to launch raids that involve twice the number of machines. To pick through the debris and peer inside those weapons is to come face to face with a grim reality. China is the most important—perhaps decisive—enabler of Russia’s war machine. The Economist

IN THE West the shopping calendar is organised around the birthday of Jesus Christ. In China it is shaped by the birthday of JD.com. That giant e-commerce firm, established on June 18th 1998, introduced the “618” shopping festival in honour of its founding. The festival offers discounts and other enticements to shoppers in the run-up to the big day. But just as Christmas decorations seem to appear earlier each year, the 618 festival keeps starting sooner. This year’s promotion began on May 13th, a week earlier than in 2024. The…

QUALITY OF LIFE in China has soared in recent decades. The quality of death, however, remains grim. As the population ages, the number succumbing to diseases that can be protracted and painful, such as cancer and Alzheimer’s, is soaring. The government wants to make dying a bit less execrable, so it is experimenting with state-subsidised end-of-life care. But deep taboos and bureaucratic hurdles are making progress agonisingly slow. The Economist

MARRIAGE IN CHINA can be mercenary. “Is 380,000 yuan a lot for a bride price?” a woman in Guangdong asks on a social-media site. She is thinking of getting married, and wants to know how much her fiancé’s family should pay for her hand. The sum she is suggesting, equivalent to nearly $53,000, is more than seven times her annual wage. Thousands reply; many say she should demand more. “Sis, life is your own, don’t wrong yourself, at least ask for 888,800,” says one. The Economist

Something was missing when Kweichow Moutai, the world’s most valuable spirits company, held its annual shareholder meeting in May. Participants were not served its famous baijiu, a fiery sorghum-based liquor. They supped on blueberry juice, instead. This was probably wise: the Chinese government is in the midst of yet another campaign to stamp out excessive drinking (and other sorts of extravagant behaviours) among officials. Last month the government banned alcohol entirely at official events; inspectors vowed zero tolerance. “One drink can make you lose your position,” state media thundered. The…

China’s ability to make electric vehicles (evs) cheaply has caused angst in countries with big carmakers, prompting governments to investigate China’s subsidies for the sector and to erect trade barriers. Now, though, it is China’s own government that is worrying about how cheap its producers’ evs are. The race to the bottom shows no sign of letting up, and the industry has become emblematic of some of the broader problems facing the economy. The Economist